Returning Value Blog

How to achieve financial success

No one can predict with any great certainty the financial outlook for 2016, especially with the national elections looming in November. Nevertheless, here are 10 top money management moves that make sense for the rest of this year.

Every business owner should address how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will impact their business. There are reporting requirements in effect for the 2015 calendar year as well as potential employer health insurance coverage offering requirements, both having substantial fines for noncompliance. To be prepared you need to know the following:

More nonprofits are waking up. From stringent regulations and government scrutiny around tax-exempt status and grant compliance to increasingly intense competition for funds, organizations of all shapes and sizes are realizing the need to implement strong measurement and monitoring programs.

It is hard to open a business and turn it into a successful operation. Despite the best efforts of entrepreneurs, a vast number of new businesses in the United States fail each year. Instead of starting from scratch, you or another family member, such as an adult child, might search for a ready-made franchise. There are thousands of them in the marketplace, ranging from McDonald’s to Jiffy Lube to Fantastic Sams hair salons.

When business owners are selling their business, many believe that it will be the end of their working life. What these business owners do not consider is that this can be a time of excitement, new ventures and continuing personal growth. In order to seek out new ventures, business owners need to maximize the amount of money they’ll have when they leave the business. 

In September 2013, IRS released final regulations (“Regulations”) dealing with repair and capitalization of tangible property under IRC Sec. 162(a) and 263(a) and regulations relating to dispositions under IRC Sec. 168. These Regulations are effective for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2014. Every taxpayer with fixed assets is affected by these new rules; owners of real property are especially impacted. The Regulations are adopted through elections where indicated in the Regulations and by filing Form(s) 3115, Application for Change in Accounting Method, as indicated by the IRS in separate guidance.

As in the past few years, most of the 2014 changes to the Form 990 and its many schedules are fairly minor. There is, however, one exception—Schedule A: the schedule required for all Section 501(c)(3) public charities, which has gone from four to eight pages and now includes eighteen pages of instructions.

On February 19, 2015, the IRS issued Notice 2015-17, which provides some interim relief for small employers from the excise taxes that could be imposed for non-compliance with the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

1. Employer reimbursement plans for small employers will be allowed through June 30, 2015 without imposition of the excise tax. Prior to the ruling, the IRS’ position was that programs that reimbursed employees for their individual purchases of health insurance constituted a ‘plan’ for purposes of the ACA,and would therefore be subject to its provisions, regardless of the size of the employer. The Notice provides that programs offered by employers who are not otherwise subject to the ACA (employers with less than 50 full time equivalent employees) can offer reimbursement programs during the first six months of 2015. These programs can include reimbursement for individual policies, group policies and policies that provide Medicare Part B and D coverage.